ipc/sem.c: increase SEMMSL, SEMMNI, SEMOPM
[deliverable/linux.git] / Documentation / sysctl / kernel.txt
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1Documentation for /proc/sys/kernel/* kernel version 2.2.10
2 (c) 1998, 1999, Rik van Riel <riel@nl.linux.org>
760df93e 3 (c) 2009, Shen Feng<shen@cn.fujitsu.com>
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4
5For general info and legal blurb, please look in README.
6
7==============================================================
8
9This file contains documentation for the sysctl files in
10/proc/sys/kernel/ and is valid for Linux kernel version 2.2.
11
12The files in this directory can be used to tune and monitor
13miscellaneous and general things in the operation of the Linux
14kernel. Since some of the files _can_ be used to screw up your
15system, it is advisable to read both documentation and source
16before actually making adjustments.
17
18Currently, these files might (depending on your configuration)
19show up in /proc/sys/kernel:
807094c0 20
1da177e4 21- acct
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22- acpi_video_flags
23- auto_msgmni
d75757ab
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24- bootloader_type [ X86 only ]
25- bootloader_version [ X86 only ]
c114728a 26- callhome [ S390 only ]
73efc039 27- cap_last_cap
1da177e4 28- core_pattern
a293980c 29- core_pipe_limit
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30- core_uses_pid
31- ctrl-alt-del
eaf06b24 32- dmesg_restrict
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33- domainname
34- hostname
35- hotplug
270750db
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36- hung_task_panic
37- hung_task_check_count
38- hung_task_timeout_secs
39- hung_task_warnings
7984754b 40- kexec_load_disabled
455cd5ab 41- kptr_restrict
0741f4d2 42- kstack_depth_to_print [ X86 only ]
1da177e4 43- l2cr [ PPC only ]
ac76cff2 44- modprobe ==> Documentation/debugging-modules.txt
3d43321b 45- modules_disabled
03f59566 46- msg_next_id [ sysv ipc ]
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47- msgmax
48- msgmnb
49- msgmni
760df93e 50- nmi_watchdog
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51- osrelease
52- ostype
53- overflowgid
54- overflowuid
55- panic
807094c0 56- panic_on_oops
55af7796 57- panic_on_stackoverflow
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58- panic_on_unrecovered_nmi
59- panic_on_warn
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60- pid_max
61- powersave-nap [ PPC only ]
62- printk
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BP
63- printk_delay
64- printk_ratelimit
65- printk_ratelimit_burst
1ec7fd50 66- randomize_va_space
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67- real-root-dev ==> Documentation/initrd.txt
68- reboot-cmd [ SPARC only ]
69- rtsig-max
70- rtsig-nr
71- sem
03f59566 72- sem_next_id [ sysv ipc ]
1da177e4 73- sg-big-buff [ generic SCSI device (sg) ]
03f59566 74- shm_next_id [ sysv ipc ]
b34a6b1d 75- shm_rmid_forced
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76- shmall
77- shmmax [ sysv ipc ]
78- shmmni
ed235875 79- softlockup_all_cpu_backtrace
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80- stop-a [ SPARC only ]
81- sysrq ==> Documentation/sysrq.txt
f4aacea2 82- sysctl_writes_strict
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83- tainted
84- threads-max
760df93e 85- unknown_nmi_panic
08825c90 86- watchdog_thresh
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87- version
88
89==============================================================
90
91acct:
92
93highwater lowwater frequency
94
95If BSD-style process accounting is enabled these values control
96its behaviour. If free space on filesystem where the log lives
97goes below <lowwater>% accounting suspends. If free space gets
98above <highwater>% accounting resumes. <Frequency> determines
99how often do we check the amount of free space (value is in
100seconds). Default:
1014 2 30
102That is, suspend accounting if there left <= 2% free; resume it
103if we got >=4%; consider information about amount of free space
104valid for 30 seconds.
105
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106==============================================================
107
108acpi_video_flags:
109
110flags
111
112See Doc*/kernel/power/video.txt, it allows mode of video boot to be
113set during run time.
114
115==============================================================
116
117auto_msgmni:
118
119Enables/Disables automatic recomputing of msgmni upon memory add/remove
120or upon ipc namespace creation/removal (see the msgmni description
121above). Echoing "1" into this file enables msgmni automatic recomputing.
122Echoing "0" turns it off. auto_msgmni default value is 1.
123
124
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125==============================================================
126
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127bootloader_type:
128
129x86 bootloader identification
130
131This gives the bootloader type number as indicated by the bootloader,
132shifted left by 4, and OR'd with the low four bits of the bootloader
133version. The reason for this encoding is that this used to match the
134type_of_loader field in the kernel header; the encoding is kept for
135backwards compatibility. That is, if the full bootloader type number
136is 0x15 and the full version number is 0x234, this file will contain
137the value 340 = 0x154.
138
139See the type_of_loader and ext_loader_type fields in
140Documentation/x86/boot.txt for additional information.
141
142==============================================================
143
144bootloader_version:
145
146x86 bootloader version
147
148The complete bootloader version number. In the example above, this
149file will contain the value 564 = 0x234.
150
151See the type_of_loader and ext_loader_ver fields in
152Documentation/x86/boot.txt for additional information.
153
154==============================================================
155
c114728a
HJP
156callhome:
157
158Controls the kernel's callhome behavior in case of a kernel panic.
159
160The s390 hardware allows an operating system to send a notification
161to a service organization (callhome) in case of an operating system panic.
162
163When the value in this file is 0 (which is the default behavior)
164nothing happens in case of a kernel panic. If this value is set to "1"
165the complete kernel oops message is send to the IBM customer service
166organization in case the mainframe the Linux operating system is running
167on has a service contract with IBM.
168
169==============================================================
170
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171cap_last_cap
172
173Highest valid capability of the running kernel. Exports
174CAP_LAST_CAP from the kernel.
175
176==============================================================
177
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178core_pattern:
179
180core_pattern is used to specify a core dumpfile pattern name.
cd081041 181. max length 128 characters; default value is "core"
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182. core_pattern is used as a pattern template for the output filename;
183 certain string patterns (beginning with '%') are substituted with
184 their actual values.
185. backward compatibility with core_uses_pid:
186 If core_pattern does not include "%p" (default does not)
187 and core_uses_pid is set, then .PID will be appended to
188 the filename.
189. corename format specifiers:
190 %<NUL> '%' is dropped
191 %% output one '%'
192 %p pid
65aafb1e 193 %P global pid (init PID namespace)
b03023ec
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194 %i tid
195 %I global tid (init PID namespace)
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196 %u uid
197 %g gid
12a2b4b2
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198 %d dump mode, matches PR_SET_DUMPABLE and
199 /proc/sys/fs/suid_dumpable
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200 %s signal number
201 %t UNIX time of dump
202 %h hostname
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203 %e executable filename (may be shortened)
204 %E executable path
1da177e4 205 %<OTHER> both are dropped
cd081041
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206. If the first character of the pattern is a '|', the kernel will treat
207 the rest of the pattern as a command to run. The core dump will be
208 written to the standard input of that program instead of to a file.
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209
210==============================================================
211
a293980c
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212core_pipe_limit:
213
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214This sysctl is only applicable when core_pattern is configured to pipe
215core files to a user space helper (when the first character of
216core_pattern is a '|', see above). When collecting cores via a pipe
217to an application, it is occasionally useful for the collecting
218application to gather data about the crashing process from its
219/proc/pid directory. In order to do this safely, the kernel must wait
220for the collecting process to exit, so as not to remove the crashing
221processes proc files prematurely. This in turn creates the
222possibility that a misbehaving userspace collecting process can block
223the reaping of a crashed process simply by never exiting. This sysctl
224defends against that. It defines how many concurrent crashing
225processes may be piped to user space applications in parallel. If
226this value is exceeded, then those crashing processes above that value
227are noted via the kernel log and their cores are skipped. 0 is a
228special value, indicating that unlimited processes may be captured in
229parallel, but that no waiting will take place (i.e. the collecting
230process is not guaranteed access to /proc/<crashing pid>/). This
231value defaults to 0.
a293980c
NH
232
233==============================================================
234
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235core_uses_pid:
236
237The default coredump filename is "core". By setting
238core_uses_pid to 1, the coredump filename becomes core.PID.
239If core_pattern does not include "%p" (default does not)
240and core_uses_pid is set, then .PID will be appended to
241the filename.
242
243==============================================================
244
245ctrl-alt-del:
246
247When the value in this file is 0, ctrl-alt-del is trapped and
248sent to the init(1) program to handle a graceful restart.
249When, however, the value is > 0, Linux's reaction to a Vulcan
250Nerve Pinch (tm) will be an immediate reboot, without even
251syncing its dirty buffers.
252
253Note: when a program (like dosemu) has the keyboard in 'raw'
254mode, the ctrl-alt-del is intercepted by the program before it
255ever reaches the kernel tty layer, and it's up to the program
256to decide what to do with it.
257
258==============================================================
259
eaf06b24
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260dmesg_restrict:
261
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262This toggle indicates whether unprivileged users are prevented
263from using dmesg(8) to view messages from the kernel's log buffer.
264When dmesg_restrict is set to (0) there are no restrictions. When
38ef4c2e 265dmesg_restrict is set set to (1), users must have CAP_SYSLOG to use
eaf06b24
DR
266dmesg(8).
267
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268The kernel config option CONFIG_SECURITY_DMESG_RESTRICT sets the
269default value of dmesg_restrict.
eaf06b24
DR
270
271==============================================================
272
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273domainname & hostname:
274
275These files can be used to set the NIS/YP domainname and the
276hostname of your box in exactly the same way as the commands
277domainname and hostname, i.e.:
278# echo "darkstar" > /proc/sys/kernel/hostname
279# echo "mydomain" > /proc/sys/kernel/domainname
280has the same effect as
281# hostname "darkstar"
282# domainname "mydomain"
283
284Note, however, that the classic darkstar.frop.org has the
285hostname "darkstar" and DNS (Internet Domain Name Server)
286domainname "frop.org", not to be confused with the NIS (Network
287Information Service) or YP (Yellow Pages) domainname. These two
288domain names are in general different. For a detailed discussion
289see the hostname(1) man page.
290
291==============================================================
292
293hotplug:
294
295Path for the hotplug policy agent.
296Default value is "/sbin/hotplug".
297
298==============================================================
299
270750db
AT
300hung_task_panic:
301
302Controls the kernel's behavior when a hung task is detected.
303This file shows up if CONFIG_DETECT_HUNG_TASK is enabled.
304
3050: continue operation. This is the default behavior.
306
3071: panic immediately.
308
309==============================================================
310
311hung_task_check_count:
312
313The upper bound on the number of tasks that are checked.
314This file shows up if CONFIG_DETECT_HUNG_TASK is enabled.
315
316==============================================================
317
318hung_task_timeout_secs:
319
320Check interval. When a task in D state did not get scheduled
321for more than this value report a warning.
322This file shows up if CONFIG_DETECT_HUNG_TASK is enabled.
323
3240: means infinite timeout - no checking done.
80df2847 325Possible values to set are in range {0..LONG_MAX/HZ}.
270750db
AT
326
327==============================================================
328
70e0ac5f 329hung_task_warnings:
270750db
AT
330
331The maximum number of warnings to report. During a check interval
70e0ac5f
AT
332if a hung task is detected, this value is decreased by 1.
333When this value reaches 0, no more warnings will be reported.
270750db
AT
334This file shows up if CONFIG_DETECT_HUNG_TASK is enabled.
335
336-1: report an infinite number of warnings.
337
338==============================================================
339
7984754b
KC
340kexec_load_disabled:
341
342A toggle indicating if the kexec_load syscall has been disabled. This
343value defaults to 0 (false: kexec_load enabled), but can be set to 1
344(true: kexec_load disabled). Once true, kexec can no longer be used, and
345the toggle cannot be set back to false. This allows a kexec image to be
346loaded before disabling the syscall, allowing a system to set up (and
347later use) an image without it being altered. Generally used together
348with the "modules_disabled" sysctl.
349
350==============================================================
351
455cd5ab
DR
352kptr_restrict:
353
354This toggle indicates whether restrictions are placed on
312b4e22
RM
355exposing kernel addresses via /proc and other interfaces.
356
357When kptr_restrict is set to (0), the default, there are no restrictions.
358
359When kptr_restrict is set to (1), kernel pointers printed using the %pK
360format specifier will be replaced with 0's unless the user has CAP_SYSLOG
361and effective user and group ids are equal to the real ids. This is
362because %pK checks are done at read() time rather than open() time, so
363if permissions are elevated between the open() and the read() (e.g via
364a setuid binary) then %pK will not leak kernel pointers to unprivileged
365users. Note, this is a temporary solution only. The correct long-term
366solution is to do the permission checks at open() time. Consider removing
367world read permissions from files that use %pK, and using dmesg_restrict
368to protect against uses of %pK in dmesg(8) if leaking kernel pointer
369values to unprivileged users is a concern.
370
371When kptr_restrict is set to (2), kernel pointers printed using
372%pK will be replaced with 0's regardless of privileges.
455cd5ab
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373
374==============================================================
375
0741f4d2
CE
376kstack_depth_to_print: (X86 only)
377
378Controls the number of words to print when dumping the raw
379kernel stack.
380
381==============================================================
382
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383l2cr: (PPC only)
384
385This flag controls the L2 cache of G3 processor boards. If
3860, the cache is disabled. Enabled if nonzero.
387
388==============================================================
389
3d43321b
KC
390modules_disabled:
391
392A toggle value indicating if modules are allowed to be loaded
393in an otherwise modular kernel. This toggle defaults to off
394(0), but can be set true (1). Once true, modules can be
395neither loaded nor unloaded, and the toggle cannot be set back
7984754b 396to false. Generally used with the "kexec_load_disabled" toggle.
3d43321b
KC
397
398==============================================================
399
03f59566
SK
400msg_next_id, sem_next_id, and shm_next_id:
401
402These three toggles allows to specify desired id for next allocated IPC
403object: message, semaphore or shared memory respectively.
404
405By default they are equal to -1, which means generic allocation logic.
406Possible values to set are in range {0..INT_MAX}.
407
408Notes:
4091) kernel doesn't guarantee, that new object will have desired id. So,
410it's up to userspace, how to handle an object with "wrong" id.
4112) Toggle with non-default value will be set back to -1 by kernel after
412successful IPC object allocation.
413
414==============================================================
415
807094c0
BP
416nmi_watchdog:
417
418Enables/Disables the NMI watchdog on x86 systems. When the value is
419non-zero the NMI watchdog is enabled and will continuously test all
420online cpus to determine whether or not they are still functioning
421properly. Currently, passing "nmi_watchdog=" parameter at boot time is
422required for this function to work.
423
424If LAPIC NMI watchdog method is in use (nmi_watchdog=2 kernel
425parameter), the NMI watchdog shares registers with oprofile. By
426disabling the NMI watchdog, oprofile may have more registers to
427utilize.
428
429==============================================================
430
10fc05d0
MG
431numa_balancing
432
433Enables/disables automatic page fault based NUMA memory
434balancing. Memory is moved automatically to nodes
435that access it often.
436
437Enables/disables automatic NUMA memory balancing. On NUMA machines, there
438is a performance penalty if remote memory is accessed by a CPU. When this
439feature is enabled the kernel samples what task thread is accessing memory
440by periodically unmapping pages and later trapping a page fault. At the
441time of the page fault, it is determined if the data being accessed should
442be migrated to a local memory node.
443
444The unmapping of pages and trapping faults incur additional overhead that
445ideally is offset by improved memory locality but there is no universal
446guarantee. If the target workload is already bound to NUMA nodes then this
447feature should be disabled. Otherwise, if the system overhead from the
448feature is too high then the rate the kernel samples for NUMA hinting
449faults may be controlled by the numa_balancing_scan_period_min_ms,
930aa174 450numa_balancing_scan_delay_ms, numa_balancing_scan_period_max_ms,
52bf84aa 451numa_balancing_scan_size_mb, and numa_balancing_settle_count sysctls.
10fc05d0
MG
452
453==============================================================
454
455numa_balancing_scan_period_min_ms, numa_balancing_scan_delay_ms,
930aa174 456numa_balancing_scan_period_max_ms, numa_balancing_scan_size_mb
10fc05d0
MG
457
458Automatic NUMA balancing scans tasks address space and unmaps pages to
459detect if pages are properly placed or if the data should be migrated to a
460memory node local to where the task is running. Every "scan delay" the task
461scans the next "scan size" number of pages in its address space. When the
462end of the address space is reached the scanner restarts from the beginning.
463
464In combination, the "scan delay" and "scan size" determine the scan rate.
465When "scan delay" decreases, the scan rate increases. The scan delay and
466hence the scan rate of every task is adaptive and depends on historical
467behaviour. If pages are properly placed then the scan delay increases,
468otherwise the scan delay decreases. The "scan size" is not adaptive but
469the higher the "scan size", the higher the scan rate.
470
471Higher scan rates incur higher system overhead as page faults must be
472trapped and potentially data must be migrated. However, the higher the scan
473rate, the more quickly a tasks memory is migrated to a local node if the
474workload pattern changes and minimises performance impact due to remote
475memory accesses. These sysctls control the thresholds for scan delays and
476the number of pages scanned.
477
598f0ec0
MG
478numa_balancing_scan_period_min_ms is the minimum time in milliseconds to
479scan a tasks virtual memory. It effectively controls the maximum scanning
480rate for each task.
10fc05d0
MG
481
482numa_balancing_scan_delay_ms is the starting "scan delay" used for a task
483when it initially forks.
484
598f0ec0
MG
485numa_balancing_scan_period_max_ms is the maximum time in milliseconds to
486scan a tasks virtual memory. It effectively controls the minimum scanning
487rate for each task.
10fc05d0
MG
488
489numa_balancing_scan_size_mb is how many megabytes worth of pages are
490scanned for a given scan.
491
10fc05d0
MG
492==============================================================
493
1da177e4
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494osrelease, ostype & version:
495
496# cat osrelease
4972.1.88
498# cat ostype
499Linux
500# cat version
501#5 Wed Feb 25 21:49:24 MET 1998
502
503The files osrelease and ostype should be clear enough. Version
504needs a little more clarification however. The '#5' means that
505this is the fifth kernel built from this source base and the
506date behind it indicates the time the kernel was built.
507The only way to tune these values is to rebuild the kernel :-)
508
509==============================================================
510
511overflowgid & overflowuid:
512
807094c0
BP
513if your architecture did not always support 32-bit UIDs (i.e. arm,
514i386, m68k, sh, and sparc32), a fixed UID and GID will be returned to
515applications that use the old 16-bit UID/GID system calls, if the
516actual UID or GID would exceed 65535.
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517
518These sysctls allow you to change the value of the fixed UID and GID.
519The default is 65534.
520
521==============================================================
522
523panic:
524
807094c0
BP
525The value in this file represents the number of seconds the kernel
526waits before rebooting on a panic. When you use the software watchdog,
527the recommended setting is 60.
528
529==============================================================
530
1da177e4
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531panic_on_oops:
532
533Controls the kernel's behaviour when an oops or BUG is encountered.
534
5350: try to continue operation
536
a982ac06 5371: panic immediately. If the `panic' sysctl is also non-zero then the
8b23d04d 538 machine will be rebooted.
1da177e4
LT
539
540==============================================================
541
55af7796
MH
542panic_on_stackoverflow:
543
544Controls the kernel's behavior when detecting the overflows of
545kernel, IRQ and exception stacks except a user stack.
546This file shows up if CONFIG_DEBUG_STACKOVERFLOW is enabled.
547
5480: try to continue operation.
549
5501: panic immediately.
551
552==============================================================
553
9e3961a0
PB
554panic_on_unrecovered_nmi:
555
556The default Linux behaviour on an NMI of either memory or unknown is
557to continue operation. For many environments such as scientific
558computing it is preferable that the box is taken out and the error
559dealt with than an uncorrected parity/ECC error get propagated.
560
561A small number of systems do generate NMI's for bizarre random reasons
562such as power management so the default is off. That sysctl works like
563the existing panic controls already in that directory.
564
565==============================================================
566
567panic_on_warn:
568
569Calls panic() in the WARN() path when set to 1. This is useful to avoid
570a kernel rebuild when attempting to kdump at the location of a WARN().
571
5720: only WARN(), default behaviour.
573
5741: call panic() after printing out WARN() location.
575
576==============================================================
577
14c63f17
DH
578perf_cpu_time_max_percent:
579
580Hints to the kernel how much CPU time it should be allowed to
581use to handle perf sampling events. If the perf subsystem
582is informed that its samples are exceeding this limit, it
583will drop its sampling frequency to attempt to reduce its CPU
584usage.
585
586Some perf sampling happens in NMIs. If these samples
587unexpectedly take too long to execute, the NMIs can become
588stacked up next to each other so much that nothing else is
589allowed to execute.
590
5910: disable the mechanism. Do not monitor or correct perf's
592 sampling rate no matter how CPU time it takes.
593
5941-100: attempt to throttle perf's sample rate to this
595 percentage of CPU. Note: the kernel calculates an
596 "expected" length of each sample event. 100 here means
597 100% of that expected length. Even if this is set to
598 100, you may still see sample throttling if this
599 length is exceeded. Set to 0 if you truly do not care
600 how much CPU is consumed.
601
602==============================================================
603
55af7796 604
1da177e4
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605pid_max:
606
beb7dd86 607PID allocation wrap value. When the kernel's next PID value
1da177e4
LT
608reaches this value, it wraps back to a minimum PID value.
609PIDs of value pid_max or larger are not allocated.
610
611==============================================================
612
b8f566b0
PE
613ns_last_pid:
614
615The last pid allocated in the current (the one task using this sysctl
616lives in) pid namespace. When selecting a pid for a next task on fork
617kernel tries to allocate a number starting from this one.
618
619==============================================================
620
1da177e4
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621powersave-nap: (PPC only)
622
623If set, Linux-PPC will use the 'nap' mode of powersaving,
624otherwise the 'doze' mode will be used.
625
626==============================================================
627
628printk:
629
630The four values in printk denote: console_loglevel,
631default_message_loglevel, minimum_console_loglevel and
632default_console_loglevel respectively.
633
634These values influence printk() behavior when printing or
635logging error messages. See 'man 2 syslog' for more info on
636the different loglevels.
637
638- console_loglevel: messages with a higher priority than
639 this will be printed to the console
87889e15 640- default_message_loglevel: messages without an explicit priority
1da177e4
LT
641 will be printed with this priority
642- minimum_console_loglevel: minimum (highest) value to which
643 console_loglevel can be set
644- default_console_loglevel: default value for console_loglevel
645
646==============================================================
647
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BP
648printk_delay:
649
650Delay each printk message in printk_delay milliseconds
651
652Value from 0 - 10000 is allowed.
653
654==============================================================
655
1da177e4
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656printk_ratelimit:
657
658Some warning messages are rate limited. printk_ratelimit specifies
659the minimum length of time between these messages (in jiffies), by
660default we allow one every 5 seconds.
661
662A value of 0 will disable rate limiting.
663
664==============================================================
665
666printk_ratelimit_burst:
667
668While long term we enforce one message per printk_ratelimit
669seconds, we do allow a burst of messages to pass through.
670printk_ratelimit_burst specifies the number of messages we can
671send before ratelimiting kicks in.
672
673==============================================================
674
807094c0 675randomize_va_space:
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676
677This option can be used to select the type of process address
678space randomization that is used in the system, for architectures
679that support this feature.
680
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6810 - Turn the process address space randomization off. This is the
682 default for architectures that do not support this feature anyways,
683 and kernels that are booted with the "norandmaps" parameter.
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684
6851 - Make the addresses of mmap base, stack and VDSO page randomized.
686 This, among other things, implies that shared libraries will be
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687 loaded to random addresses. Also for PIE-linked binaries, the
688 location of code start is randomized. This is the default if the
689 CONFIG_COMPAT_BRK option is enabled.
1ec7fd50 690
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6912 - Additionally enable heap randomization. This is the default if
692 CONFIG_COMPAT_BRK is disabled.
693
694 There are a few legacy applications out there (such as some ancient
1ec7fd50 695 versions of libc.so.5 from 1996) that assume that brk area starts
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696 just after the end of the code+bss. These applications break when
697 start of the brk area is randomized. There are however no known
1ec7fd50 698 non-legacy applications that would be broken this way, so for most
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699 systems it is safe to choose full randomization.
700
701 Systems with ancient and/or broken binaries should be configured
702 with CONFIG_COMPAT_BRK enabled, which excludes the heap from process
703 address space randomization.
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704
705==============================================================
706
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707reboot-cmd: (Sparc only)
708
709??? This seems to be a way to give an argument to the Sparc
710ROM/Flash boot loader. Maybe to tell it what to do after
711rebooting. ???
712
713==============================================================
714
715rtsig-max & rtsig-nr:
716
717The file rtsig-max can be used to tune the maximum number
718of POSIX realtime (queued) signals that can be outstanding
719in the system.
720
721rtsig-nr shows the number of RT signals currently queued.
722
723==============================================================
724
725sg-big-buff:
726
727This file shows the size of the generic SCSI (sg) buffer.
728You can't tune it just yet, but you could change it on
729compile time by editing include/scsi/sg.h and changing
730the value of SG_BIG_BUFF.
731
732There shouldn't be any reason to change this value. If
733you can come up with one, you probably know what you
734are doing anyway :)
735
736==============================================================
737
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CALP
738shmall:
739
740This parameter sets the total amount of shared memory pages that
741can be used system wide. Hence, SHMALL should always be at least
742ceil(shmmax/PAGE_SIZE).
743
744If you are not sure what the default PAGE_SIZE is on your Linux
745system, you can run the following command:
746
747# getconf PAGE_SIZE
748
749==============================================================
750
807094c0 751shmmax:
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752
753This value can be used to query and set the run time limit
754on the maximum shared memory segment size that can be created.
807094c0 755Shared memory segments up to 1Gb are now supported in the
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756kernel. This value defaults to SHMMAX.
757
758==============================================================
759
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760shm_rmid_forced:
761
762Linux lets you set resource limits, including how much memory one
763process can consume, via setrlimit(2). Unfortunately, shared memory
764segments are allowed to exist without association with any process, and
765thus might not be counted against any resource limits. If enabled,
766shared memory segments are automatically destroyed when their attach
767count becomes zero after a detach or a process termination. It will
768also destroy segments that were created, but never attached to, on exit
769from the process. The only use left for IPC_RMID is to immediately
770destroy an unattached segment. Of course, this breaks the way things are
771defined, so some applications might stop working. Note that this
772feature will do you no good unless you also configure your resource
773limits (in particular, RLIMIT_AS and RLIMIT_NPROC). Most systems don't
774need this.
775
776Note that if you change this from 0 to 1, already created segments
777without users and with a dead originative process will be destroyed.
778
779==============================================================
780
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781sysctl_writes_strict:
782
783Control how file position affects the behavior of updating sysctl values
784via the /proc/sys interface:
785
786 -1 - Legacy per-write sysctl value handling, with no printk warnings.
787 Each write syscall must fully contain the sysctl value to be
788 written, and multiple writes on the same sysctl file descriptor
789 will rewrite the sysctl value, regardless of file position.
790 0 - (default) Same behavior as above, but warn about processes that
791 perform writes to a sysctl file descriptor when the file position
792 is not 0.
793 1 - Respect file position when writing sysctl strings. Multiple writes
794 will append to the sysctl value buffer. Anything past the max length
795 of the sysctl value buffer will be ignored. Writes to numeric sysctl
796 entries must always be at file position 0 and the value must be
797 fully contained in the buffer sent in the write syscall.
798
799==============================================================
800
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801softlockup_all_cpu_backtrace:
802
803This value controls the soft lockup detector thread's behavior
804when a soft lockup condition is detected as to whether or not
805to gather further debug information. If enabled, each cpu will
806be issued an NMI and instructed to capture stack trace.
807
808This feature is only applicable for architectures which support
809NMI.
810
8110: do nothing. This is the default behavior.
812
8131: on detection capture more debug information.
814
815==============================================================
816
807094c0 817tainted:
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818
819Non-zero if the kernel has been tainted. Numeric values, which
820can be ORed together:
821
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822 1 - A module with a non-GPL license has been loaded, this
823 includes modules with no license.
824 Set by modutils >= 2.4.9 and module-init-tools.
825 2 - A module was force loaded by insmod -f.
826 Set by modutils >= 2.4.9 and module-init-tools.
827 4 - Unsafe SMP processors: SMP with CPUs not designed for SMP.
828 8 - A module was forcibly unloaded from the system by rmmod -f.
829 16 - A hardware machine check error occurred on the system.
830 32 - A bad page was discovered on the system.
831 64 - The user has asked that the system be marked "tainted". This
832 could be because they are running software that directly modifies
833 the hardware, or for other reasons.
834 128 - The system has died.
835 256 - The ACPI DSDT has been overridden with one supplied by the user
836 instead of using the one provided by the hardware.
837 512 - A kernel warning has occurred.
8381024 - A module from drivers/staging was loaded.
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8392048 - The system is working around a severe firmware bug.
8404096 - An out-of-tree module has been loaded.
66cc69e3
MD
8418192 - An unsigned module has been loaded in a kernel supporting module
842 signature.
69361eef 84316384 - A soft lockup has previously occurred on the system.
1da177e4 844
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845==============================================================
846
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847unknown_nmi_panic:
848
807094c0
BP
849The value in this file affects behavior of handling NMI. When the
850value is non-zero, unknown NMI is trapped and then panic occurs. At
851that time, kernel debugging information is displayed on console.
760df93e 852
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853NMI switch that most IA32 servers have fires unknown NMI up, for
854example. If a system hangs up, try pressing the NMI switch.
08825c90
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855
856==============================================================
857
858watchdog_thresh:
859
860This value can be used to control the frequency of hrtimer and NMI
861events and the soft and hard lockup thresholds. The default threshold
862is 10 seconds.
863
864The softlockup threshold is (2 * watchdog_thresh). Setting this
865tunable to zero will disable lockup detection altogether.
866
867==============================================================
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